GunnLeif Merl I 36^VIII

‘Kemr bardagi         buðlungs himins
ákafr of her,         ári steypir.
Kvelr inn harði         helverkr fira;
megut dauðan her         dróttir hylja.
Líðr sultr ok sótt         at sigrviðum
— missir manna —         mǫrg stríð hǫfug.

‘Ákafr bardagi {buðlungs himins} kemr of her, steypir ári. Inn harði helverkr kvelr fira; dróttir megut hylja dauðan her. Sultr ok sótt líðr at {sigrviðum}, mǫrg hǫfug stríð; missir manna.

‘The violent scourge {of the king of heaven} [= God] will come over the people, will ruin the harvest. The harsh torment of Hell will afflict men; men will not be able to bury the dead people. Hunger and sickness will advance on {victory-trees} [WARRIORS], [and] many grievous hardships; there is loss of men.

Mss: Hb(51v) (Bret)

Readings: [2] buðlungs: buðlung Hb

Editions: Skj AII, 27, Skj BII, 31, Skald II, 19, FF §63; Bret 1848-9, II, 51 (Bret st. 104); Hb 1892-6, 279; Merl 2012, 154-5.

Notes: [All]: Cf. DGB 112 (Reeve and Wright 2007, 147.58-9; cf. Wright 1988, 103, prophecy 5): Superueniet itaque ultio Tonantis, quia omnis ager colonos decipiet. Arripiet mortalitas populum cunctasque nationes euacuabit ‘Upon it will come the retribution of the Thunderer, for every field will disappoint its cultivators. Pestilence will smite the people and empty every region’ (Reeve and Wright 2007, 146). — [1] bardagi ‘the scourge’: This sense of the word, which normally means ‘battle’ (see further Note to l. 10), occurs chiefly in learned and religious texts. The word is not otherwise attested in poetry except in Bjbp Jóms 7/2^I, where it refers to a battle. — [2] buðlungs ‘of the king’: Emended in Skj B, followed by Skald, Merl 2012 and this edn, for ms. buðlung (not refreshed). — [9-12]: A composite subject, with sg. verb governed by the first component of the subject, as happens sporadically elsewhere in Merl (cf. NS §66). Kock (FF §63) notes the parallel construction in ll. 9 and 12. — [10] sigrviðum ‘victory-trees [WARRIORS]’: Gunnlaugr appears to ironise the plight of the Britons, who having waxed excessively bellicose now find themselves defeated by God’s bardagi, understood as ‘scourge’ (l. 1) but with overtones of the other familiar sense, ‘warfare’. Cf. their description as þingdjarfa ‘battle-daring’ in I 37/3. — [11] missir ‘there is loss’: This edn follows Skj B, with which Kock concurs (FF §63); on this construal missir is a verb, used impersonally (cf. LP: missa 2). Merl 2012 instead construes missir as the nom. sg. of the noun missir ‘loss’, as suggested in LP: missir, which may equally well be the correct solution.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. LP = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1931. Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis: Ordbog over det norsk-islandske skjaldesprog oprindelig forfattet af Sveinbjörn Egilsson. 2nd edn. Copenhagen: Møller.
5. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
6. Hb 1892-6 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1892-6. Hauksbók udgiven efter de Arnamagnæanske håndskrifter no. 371, 544 og 675, 4° samt forskellige papirshåndskrifter. Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske oldskrift-selskab.
7. FF = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1922. Fornjermansk forskning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 18:1. Lund: Gleerup.
8. Bret 1848-9 = Jón Sigurðsson. 1848-9. ‘Trójumanna saga ok Breta sögur, efter Hauksbók, med dansk Oversættelse’. ÅNOH 1848, 3-215; 1849, 3-145.
9. Reeve, Michael D., and Neil Wright. 2007. Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings of Britain. An Edition and Translation of De gestis Britonum [Historia regum Britanniae]. Woodbridge: Boydell.
10. Wright, Neil, ed. 1988. The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. II. The First Variant Version: A Critical Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
11. Merl 2012 = Horst, Simone, ed. 2012. Merlínússpá. Merlins Prophezeiung. Munich: Herbert Utz Verlag.
12. Internal references
13. 2017, ‘ Unattributed, Breta saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=125> (accessed 19 April 2024)
14. Emily Lethbridge (ed.) 2012, ‘Bjarni byskup Kolbeinsson, Jómsvíkingadrápa 7’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 965.